10 Great Sci-Fi Movies For The Modern Age

5. Annihilation

Annihilation caused some initial buzz for its all-female leading cast when it was announced, but there’s plenty of substance to back up its style. A Biologist named Lena (Natalie Portman) and her team are tasked with entering “The Shimmer”, a dividing line that crosses into a section of the American coast affect by a downed meteor, now referred to as “Area X.” A group of intrepid explores in unfamiliar, often dangerous surroundings may seem fairly old hat to an avid sci-fi fan but Annihilation shines through its exploration of theme.

Woven into the film’s hallucinogenic atmosphere is a theory that seems doomed to prove itself time and time again, mankind will always lean towards self destruction. Annihilation, if you will.

Some proof of this lies in the act of Lena and co. entering “Area X”, from which only one person has ever returned, and they were never the same. There’s also “The Shimmer” itself, which looks a lot like an all encompassing oil bubble covering this unspecified area of the American coast, a confirmed parallel to the disastrous BP oil spill in the gulf of Mexico - an instance of some real life self destruction from us lovely humans.

Within “The Shimmer” DNA appears to refract, realign and coalesce into terrifying and hauntingly beautiful amalgamations (see the bear with human screams and the human/flower hybrid scenes respectively.) When Lena’s DNA is taken by an Alien in humanoid form the Alien begins to mimc her movements; creepy? Absolutely, but not necessarily hostile. The humanoid begins to take on Lena’s exact appearance and as if this were the final straw, Lena responds by obliterating the image of herself with a grenade. Thus, the theme of self destruction is brought full circle and we have to question whether the most hostile lifeforms in the universe are human.

Annihilation tackles the problem of mutation and destruction in a way that could only come from the reality we find ourselves in today, unfortunately that’s our tendency to bring about our own doom.